Edit: One thing I forgot to add is that Uber is available in 45 different COUNTRIES (full list here). So even if Uber isn’t currently available in your city, if you are traveler, I’d recommend signing up because Uber operates in almost every major city around the world and can save you from being taken advantage of by local taxis cartels.

Like many of you, I am an avid user of ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft!

It is really hard to imagine how we lived in a time where you had to manually flag a cab down or had to deal with cabbies credit card readers always being conveniently “broken”.

Outside of Uber and Lyft being so damn cheap, I also love the fact that the whole system is cashless. I can get out of the car without ever having to take out my wallet or swipe a card. Everything is done in the app!

While most cities have now accepted that ridesharing is here to stay and allow Lyft & Uber to operate without issue, the one place where taxis have really dug in against ridesharing is airport pickups. Not really surprising since the average airport fare is substantially higher ($50+) than a normal city pickup and cabs actually have to pay the airport for the right to pick up passengers there (while ridesharing doesn’t).

While Uber and Lyft are free to drop passengers off at the airport, in many cities they “aren’t allowed” to pick up people from the airport (although it does depend on the city you live in, as some cities do allow it now).

Can I Use Uber At The Airport?

The other week, we flew back from Seattle and our flight was delayed due to thunderstorms. We arrived at O’Hare at 1AM.

Normally, we’d just take public transit but it was really late and pouring so we were just gonna take a cab until I remembered Lyft and Uber were potentially an option.

I say potentially because while both services aren’t supposed to pick up people from the airport, from previous experiences I knew that when Uber and Lyft drivers drop off passengers at the airport, they sometimes hang out in the parking lot with the hope that they can pick up a passenger to drive back into the city.

So I decided to give it a shot and fired up Lyft (my preferred ridesharing service) to try and find a ride to Hyde Park (Southside of Chicago).

Unfortunately Lyft’s driver base is substantially smaller than Uber’s and at 1AM, there were no Lyft drivers near O’Hare!

I next fired up Uber and there were a couple drivers in the area but because Uber knew via GPS that I was at ORD, it wouldn’t allow me to request an UberX ride!

I could only request a Taxi, Black Car, or SUV…

“No UberX Option!”

A cab to Hyde Park would have been upwards of $50+ and public transit would have taken 2+ hours and probably not the safest idea at 1AM…

Since Uber allows you to drag the pin that determines your pickup location, I simply tried dragging the pin to the highway outside of ORD and dropped it to see if it would then allow me to request an UberX ride.

To my surprise, it worked!

“Worked Like A Charm”

Within seconds, an UberX driver responded and once he was in route, I simply called him and told him we were actually at ORD and to pick us up there.

While this “trick” doesn’t sound like much, just think about how many people land at ORD everyday, open Uber looking for a cheaper ride into the city, and then close it because Uber doesn’t allow UberX pickups at ORD…

This same “trick” I have used at IAD last December when we needed a ride between Dulles and DCA , so I suspect it works at most airports where “pickups” aren’t allowed.

The Enormous Price Difference By Using UberX

While I was happy to not have to take a cab from ORD, I had no idea how much cheaper UberX was compared to a taxi.

The drive between ORD and Hyde Park is around 25 miles and takes a good 30- 60+ minutes depending on traffic..

Had we taken a cab from ORD, it would have cost approximately $52 before a tip, so more realistically $60 including tip.

“Taxi Fare Estimate”

With UberX, thanks to their insane price war with Lyft where they just constantly undermine each other, the total price of the ride was only $34.80 (although I did have some Uber credit so I was only charged $9.23).

“Not A Bad Deal”

So without factoring in a tip that a taxi would require, UberX was 31% cheaper…

If you include the tip on the taxi ($60 total), UberX was 40% cheaper…

Recap

While this was my first time using Uber or Lyft to get picked up at ORD, for the past year, I have been using both services constantly around the country (SFO, SEA, ORD, DEN, IAD) to go to the airport when public transit wasn’t a feasible option.

In my opinion, Uber and Lyft really fill a vital need in the airport transportation space. Before ridesharing came around, there were really only 2 options if you needed to leave the airport and didn’t have a ride; an expensive but convenient taxi or slow but cheap public transit.

While it was previously annoying to not be able to use Uber or Lyft from the airport in some cities, with this little pin-dropping trick, I now know that in the event public transit isn’t an easy option, I have another option instead of being forced into an over-priced taxi!

Saving Money On Transportation When Traveling

Typically when I travel, my aim is to get the most value out of my money. That is the main reason why I started collecting miles and points in the first place.

Although I enjoy flying in Business / First Class and staying at 5 star hotels, I mostly use my miles & points to help subsidize my economy travel (hence why I also love Southwest).

While miles & points cover the 2 major expenses of traveling, airfare and lodging, the little things like transportation, food, sight seeing, etc can also add up.

While deciding where to eat and what to see are personal choices, with transportation you don’t really have a choice unless you don’t plan on leaving the airport.

Depending on the city, transportation to / from the airport can be expensive.

I’ve never seen “The Terminal” but the only plausible plot I can think of is that Tom Hanks lands at JFK only to discover how expensive a cab to midtown Manhattan is so he decides not to leave the airport.

“Hard To Believe Spielberg Directed This…”

I am extremely lucky that in Chicago it is only $2.25 to get to O’Hare from Downtown on the blue line (surprisingly this is the one thing the City hasn’t privatized yet), but in many other cities even public transportation to / from the airport can be expensive.

Therefore I am always on the lookout for ways to cut down on the cost of transportation while traveling.

Enter Lyft

Last May, a new start-up called Lyft “rolled” into Chicago.

$60 million in funding later, Lyft has barnstormed across the U.S and is in most major U.S cities now. Full city map can be found here.

“Cities Lyft Is In”

If you live in any of the above cities, then you may have seen the Lyft cars driving around with their iconic bright pink mustaches.

If you haven’t heard of Lyft, it is basically like Uber (and identical to UberX) but instead of taxis, all the driving is done by normal people using their own cars.

Everything on Lyft is done on your phone including flagging the Lyft, paying for your ride, and rating your driver.

“Lyft iPhone App”

All the Lyft drivers go through a background check, are insured, and you rate them after your trip.

“Lyft Payment & Rating”

Lyft Pricing

Since Lyft doesn’t have to deal with taxi medallions or any other taxi / government bureaucracy, they have zero overhead thus making Lyft rides way cheaper.

Every city is different but in Chicago, Lyft costs $1.25 a mile compared to City of Chicago mandated $1.80 for taxis.

That is a price difference of 33% and the Lyft price includes the tip!

“Lyft Chicago Prices”

$25 In Free Lyft Credit

Back in May when I first wrote about Lyft, they were offering $120 in free codes / credit (which I gladly accepted). Unfortunately, now that Lyft has spread like a wildfire, those days are long gone BUT thanks to increased competition from UberX, Lyft is still handing out coupons for free rides.

If you haven’t used Lyft before, feel free to use the below code for $25 in credit (basically your first ride free).

I would be promoting Lyft regardless if they were offering me credit so feel free to post your referral codes in the comments below or if you have a $25 or more code.

Also back in the day, many of the codes were stackable (hence how I got $120 in credit), so feel free to try stacking the codes that people have left in the comment section.

Recap

As much as I love riding with maniac cab drivers who are always on their bluetooth and all conveniently have credit card readers that are “broken”, since Lyft’s debut in Chicago last May, I have not stepped into a cab.

For years, taxicabs have resisted basic technological innovations because they basically run a monopoly thanks to taxi medallions. Well now thanks to Lyft that monopoly has been broken up, which is great for consumers!

In addition to paying lower rates, you can now flag rides on your phone, pay for the ride with your phone, and then also get to rate the driver. What more could you ask for?

Anyways, I highly suggest everyone check Lyft out because it is amazing and you will wonder how you ever dealt with having to stand on the corner and physically flag down a cab!